Lufthansa German Airlines is introducing an interactive selfie campaign featuring 3D and panoramic elements to deliver what it hopes will be a highly captivating brand message.

The airline brand is teaming up with mobile advertising platforms Opera Mediaworks and Celtra for the advertising campaign, which focuses on providing personalized selfie backgrounds to a targeted audience. The advertising platforms aim to excite travel enthusiasts with the selfie and gyro ad formats as a primary form of user engagement.

?There are over a million selfies taken every day,? said Scott Swanson, president of global advertising sales at Opera Mediaworks. ?It has become a way that people show pride, whether it?s sport stars taking selfies on the field after they win, or people traveling in Berlin or Paris.

?Lufthansa was interested in having a different kind of engagement mechanism, and having users visualize themselves in destinations,? he said.

Interactive format
Part of Lufthansa?s fall travel campaign, the airline is honing in on the personal journey and experience of each customer. The campaign aims to inspire potential clients to snap a selfie in front of a background of a dream destination, and then take a photo in front of the real destination one day.

?It allows people to have an element that is fun and whimsical and is more than a standard banner ad,? Mr. Swanson said. ?Most user interaction will be more private. People will try to visualize themselves in different locations.?

To participate in the campaign, consumers must take a picture in front of the ad that will then expand and activate the camera on smartphones. Users then choose a destination and can share a postcard of themselves virtually in that location on social media sites.

The ad has launched already, and is currently available across various travel, business, news and sports Web sites and apps.

Opera Mediaworks? selfie ad unit also has other features such as photo filters, layered drawings and pictures-in-pictures. Its gyro ad unit offers a more 3D experience, and is currently exclusively with Lufthansa?s campaign.

The gyroscope of a phone allows tilt as an input device and can change the view and angle of the photo to fit with the user?s stance. It functions as a part of augmented reality and lets users snap photos sitting in virtual luxury cars or business class seats on airplanes.

?If you can get a user to expand the ad, it captures their attention,? Mr. Swanson said. ?They create a viral element to it and can share that experience with others.?

Building brand awareness
Lufthansa and Opera Mediaworks believe that this campaign will help build brand awareness and convert new clients due to its sheer novelty.

The campaign, which depicts the story of a pair traveling and taking selfies to capture special moments, hopes to entice consumers to do the same thing with a meaningful selfie postcard.

?I expect people to have a positive association with Lufthansa,? Mr. Swanson said. ?The fundamental thing in an ad is that if a user can visualize themselves with a product or service, they?re much more along the path of conversion.

?It points to a larger trend of using engagement mechanisms unique to smartphones," he said. "It?s making advertising much more interactive in a way it?s never been before.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York